What Dreams May Come

What happens to us after we die? Chris Nielsen had no idea, until an unexpected accident cut his life short, separating him from his beloved wife, Annie. Now Chris must discover the true nature of life after death. But even Heaven is not complete without Annie, and the divided soul mates will do anything to reach each other across the boundaries between life and death. When tragedy threatens to divide them forever, Chris risks his very soul to save Annie from an eternity of despair.

From Time to Time

The long-awaited sequel to Time and Again . Si Morley is back and the world may never be the same. When Time and Again was published in 1970, it immediately developed a loyal following that has grown with each passing year. With this book, Jack Finney returned to the same magical territory and finds Ruben Prien still at work with the Project, still dreaming of altering man's fate by going back in time to adjust events... to interfere, some might say, with destiny.

Time and Again

Transported from the mid-twentieth century to New York City in the year 1882, Si Morley walks the fashionable "Ladies' Mile" of Broadway, is enchanted by the jingling sleigh bells in Central Park, and solves a 20th-century mystery by discovering its 19th-century roots. Falling in love with a beautiful young woman, he ultimately finds himself forced to choose between his lives in the present and the past. A story that will remain in the listener's memory, Time and Again is a remarkable blending of the troubled present and a nostalgic past....

A Stir of Echoes

Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life, until a chance event awakened psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now, he's hearing the private thoughts of the people around him - and learning shocking secrets he never wanted to know. But as Tom's existence becomes a waking nightmare, even greater jolts are in store, as he becomes the unwilling recipient of a compelling message from beyond the grave.

Hell House

For over 20 years, Belasco House has stood empty. Regarded as the Mt. Everest of haunted houses, its shadowed walls have witnessed scenes of unimaginable horror and depravity. All previous attempts to probe its mysteries have ended in murder, suicide, or insanity.

But now, a new investigation has been launched, bringing four strangers to Belasco House in search of the ultimate secrets of life and death. A wealthy publisher, brooding over his impending death, has paid a physicist and two mediums to establish the facts of life after death once and for all. For one night, they will investigate the Belasco House and learn exactly why the townsfolk refer to it as the Hell House.

Much of Richard Matheson's work has found its way into pop culture: the title story became a memorable episode of television's The Twilight Zone, and more recently, Will Smith starred in the blockbuster movie I Am Legend. Stephen King has declared Matheson to be one of his favorite writers. Find out why as you listen to the classic horror story of a man who peers out of his airplane window to see a gremlin destroying the wing.

The City on the Edge of Forever

The original teleplay that became the classic Star Trek episode, with an expanded introductory essay by Harlan Ellison, The City on the Edge of Forever has been surrounded by controversy since the airing of an "eviscerated" version - which subsequently has been voted the most beloved episode in the series' history. In its original form, The City on the Edge of Forever won the 1966-67 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Teleplay. As aired, it won the 1967 Hugo Award.

Somewhere in Time: The Crosse Harbor Time Travel Trilogy, Book 1

When her ex-husband Zane Grey Rutledge showed up at her door with a Revolutionary War uniform that was part of his grandmother's estate, neither one suspected that their lives were about to change in ways they couldn't possibly imagine.

Origin

In keeping with his trademark style, Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code and Inferno, interweaves codes, science, religion, history, art, and architecture in this new novel. Origin thrusts Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon into the dangerous intersection of humankind's two most enduring questions - and the earthshaking discovery that will answer them.

The Einstein Prophecy

As war rages in 1944, young army lieutenant Lucas Athan recovers a sarcophagus excavated from an Egyptian tomb. Shipped to Princeton University for study, the box contains mysteries that only Lucas, aided by brilliant archaeologist Simone Rashid, can unlock. These mysteries may, in fact, defy - or fulfill - the dire prophecies of Albert Einstein himself.

The Buried Book

It's 1952, and Jasper isn't allowed to ask questions or make a fuss. He's lucky to even have a home and must keep his mouth shut and his ears open to stay in his uncle's good graces. No one knows where his mother went or whether she's coming back. Desperate to see her again, he must take matters into his own hands. From the farm, he embarks on a treacherous search that will take him to the squalid hideaways of Detroit and back again, through tawdry taverns, peep shows, and gambling houses.

I Am Legend

In I Am Legend, a plague has decimated the world, and those unfortunate enough to survive are transformed into blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Robert Neville is the last living man on earth. Everyone else has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. By day, he stalks the sleeping undead, by night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn.

Dimension of Miracles

Dimension of Miracles is a satirical science fiction novel first published by Dell in 1968. It's about Tom Carmody, a New Yorker who, thanks to a computer error, wins the main prize in the Intergalactic Sweepstakes. Tom claims his prize before the error is discovered and is allowed to keep it. However, since Tom is a human from Earth without galactic status and no space traveling experience, he has no homing instinct that can guide him back to Earth once his odyssey begins - and the galactic lottery organizers cannot transport him home.

Niels J. Rasmussen says:"Easily The Best Title I've Encountered on Audible"

Lost Gods: A Novel

Fresh out of jail and eager to start a new life, Chet Moran and his pregnant wife, Trish, leave town to begin again. But an ancient evil is looming, and what seems like a safe haven may not be all it appears. Snared and murdered by a vile, arcane horror, Chet quickly learns that pain and death are not unique to the living. Now the lives and very souls of his wife and unborn child are at stake. To save them, he must journey into the bowels of purgatory in search of a sacred key promised to restore the natural order of life and death.

Imprudence

Rue and the crew of the Spotted Custard return from India with revelations that shake the foundations of England's scientific community. Queen Victoria is not amused, the vampires are tetchy, and something is wrong with the local werewolf pack. To top it all off, Rue's best friend, Primrose, keeps getting engaged to the most unacceptable military types. Rue has family problems as well. Her vampire father is angry, her werewolf father is crazy, and her obstreperous mother is both. Worst of all, Rue's beginning to suspect what they really are...is frightened.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe: A Novel

Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Here is the now-classic novel of two women in the 1980s; of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two women - of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth - who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder.

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Inch by inch, day by day, Scott Carey is getting smaller. Once an unremarkable husband and father, Scott finds himself shrinking with no end in sight. His wife and family turn into unreachable giants, the family cat becomes a predatory menace, and Scott must struggle to survive in a world that seems to be growing ever larger and more perilous, until he faces the ultimate limits of fear and existence.

A Bridge Through Time: Book 1 of The Thistle & Hive Series

Ashley Moore's life in San Francisco has hit a few snags, not the least of which involves sightings of a mystery man around every corner. Is she losing her mind or does he really exist? Her search for this grey-eyed stranger leads her to Scotland. There she meets a witch with a secret, a vindictive English knight who is bent on revenge, and she crosses a fog-shrouded bridge into the arms of a 16th century Highlander.

The Dollhouse: A Novel

When she arrives at the famed Barbizon Hotel in 1952, secretarial school enrollment in hand, Darby McLaughlin is everything her modeling agency hall mates aren't: plain, self-conscious, homesick, and utterly convinced she doesn't belong - a notion the models do nothing to disabuse. Yet when Darby befriends Esme, a Barbizon maid, she's introduced to an entirely new side of New York City: seedy downtown jazz clubs where the music is as addictive as the heroin that's used there, the startling sounds of bebop, and even the possibility of romance.

Big Vamp on Campus

Ophelia Lambert, 400-year-old vampire princess and college freshman, suddenly finds herself domesticated by humans and forced to suffer the indignities of dorm rooms, communal bathrooms, and a roommate with sticky fingers. As one of the hundreds of undead venturing into postsecondary education, Ophelia has a lot more to learn that just "undead studies" - she has to learn to get along with her fellow vampire classmates and, worst of all, her human ones.

I Am Legend and Other Stories

In Matheson's vampire classic I Am Legend, a plague has decimated the world and transformed the unfortunate survivors into bloodthirsty creatures of the night. Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth. Every other man, woman, and child has become a vampire hungry for Neville's blood. By day he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn. How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?

Doomsday Book

For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong.

Return To Hell House

In 1927 the infamous millionaire occultist Emeric Belasco disappeared without a trace, leaving behind dozens of dead bodies in the rambling, isolated mansion known as Hell House. In 1931 a team of parapsychologists entered Hell House in order to solve the riddle of Belasco's fate, only to meet with horror, insanity and death.

Publisher's Summary

Written by one of the grand masters of modern fantasy, Somewhere in Time is the moving, romantic story of a modern man whose powerful love for a woman he has never met allows him to literally transcend time.

A dying young playwright staying in a turn-of-the-century hotel becomes captivated by a painting of a beautiful stage actress from the previous century. Obsessed, he begins to study everything he can about the woman and her time and becomes convinced he belongs with her. Through self-hypnosis, he transports himself to 1896, where he finds the soul mate he was fated to meet. But will he be able to stay?

Somewhere in Time won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and was the basis for the 1980 cult classic movie starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.

Bid Time Return (the original title of this book) has been one of my favorite books for over 3 decades. I first read it when it was published in 1975 and I've read it many times since. In fact, I own 3 tattered paperback copies and treasure them all. Apparently after the lovely Christopher Reeve/Jane Seymour movie, Somewhere In Time, was released it was decided to change the book title to match the movie for future editions. That's okay. If familiarity with the movie title will get more people to read this very moving, gentle story, it gets my vote.

It is the story of a young man, terminally ill, who takes one last road-trip. He has no real destination in mind. He's just driving. On a whim, he stops at the Hotel Del Coronado for the night. While there he explores the hotel. In 'The Hall of History," he falls in love/becomes obssessed with the photographic portrait of an actress, Elise McKenna, from the late 19th century...and there the tale truly begins.

I am always hesitant to listen to a book I already love in the print edition. Seldom do they meet my expectations of how the voices should sound or words be delivered. However, Scott Brick gets 5 stars all his own for his narration. Somewhere in Time is a first-person story. It is utterly dependent on the reader/listener believing the narrator *is* the speaker. Don't believe the narrator, the story, no matter how well written, will fail. So you can only imagine how stunned I was when I started listening and realized I was actually hearing Richard Collier's voice the way I had imagined it for over 30 years. It took my breath away. Mr. Brick isn't narrating the book, he *is* Richard Collier.

I know that I will listen to this book again and again, once I stop crying over the ending. According to Scott Brick, he had to re-record the last 3 pages because he was crying, too. What more can you ask of a beautiful, romantic story than to be carried away by the emotions it invokes.

I've never seen the movie that was spawned from this novel, but I remember my mother enjoying it when I was a child. I've always been a fan of Matheson's sci-fi and horror work, and given my mother's love of the film's version of this story decided to give this a try. I'm so glad that I did. Its not a page turner, its more of a slow boil that heats up gradually, and is a wonderful story of love at first sight. I'd recommend this for someone looking for a slow romance from the man's point of view, which is drastically different than the normal female perspective that we usually get in romance novels.

It was well written with such great care in character development that you feel as if you were there with them. I am quite sure that many a listener had an emotional trip complete with feelings of joy bringing smiles and sadness bringing tears. This is true even for the anger aroused when the character is taken against his will by two hired thugs. I found myself balling my own fists and wanting to free Richard. The description of the hotel, her train, and process of time travel locks the reader into believing that against all reason time travel is possible. At least in this instance it is believable, if only for an instant. There is very little that I would change, though some would make the ending to be a new life for the characters an thus a change in history. The author's ending leaves the possibility of the story being real, and the reader or listener can make the end they want.

This is the best audiobook I've ever heard. The narrator sounded so much like Christopher Reeve that sometimes I forgot it wasn't him reading the book to me. The story is beautiful. a classic. made me cry.

The character the narrator chose to potray. Everything about this guy felt like he was ultimate victim. PB&J for lunch?, sigh. Drove to the store., Sigh. Everything with the character feels like a non-stop sigh.

What other book might you compare Somewhere in Time to and why?

What Dreams May Come! The reason I got this book was because that one rocked so hard.

How could the performance have been better?

Less victim mentality. I really want to finish it, but I need to read it without the constant whining.

Could you see Somewhere in Time being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

If we go back the narration of this book contained within this recording, I'd say Eeyore.

Where does Somewhere in Time rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Writing was good. Narration bad. Probably falls in the middle to low. Strange because I've only gotten a couple bad reads.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I looked forward to listening to this novel for quite some time. Somewhere In Time was one of my favorite movies. I even pestered Audible for about a year to get it (under the novel's name of Bid Time Return). Why not, since they already had I am Legend, The Shrinking Man, Hell House, What Dreams May Come, and quite a few others. I had finally given up when I ran the author's name and saw the book listed as Somewhere in Time. I've listened to the whole book. Over all, I'd say I liked it. The only part I objected to was the way it was read. He was good at male and female voices, but the constant tremulous voice of the protagonist was really irritating. It came across as a small, fearful person. And maybe my recollection of Christopher Reeve in the roll made me think that this was not the way it should be. But I also don't think that a person portrayed in that manner could attract a strong, female character like Elise McKenna. I don't think you can talk like that for so many hours in real life. I understand that the protagonist was worried; but not to that degree.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I think they already did that. :)

Any additional comments?

Beyond the problem listed above, the writing was good so it was still a pleasurable listen.

I saw and enjoyed the film many years ago, and have since become a Richard Matheson fan, so when this book became available, I leapt at it. The book does not disappoint and the film did the book justice. It is a touching love story told in the first person, like so many of RM's books, although the story is in the form of diary memoirs discovered by the protagonists brother. The brother regards the story as the wishful or deluded writings of a dying man, and I suppose this poses the possibility to the reader too. It is a beautifully narrated love story at heart and I would highly recommend it.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Adam

Lambourn, Berkshire, United Kingdom

5/10/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"An interesting story let down by its narrator"

The story is fine, it's not that. For those of you that don't know, it involves a young writer willing himself to go back in time after he falls in love with the picture of a woman who died decades previously. The fact that he is dying of a brain tumour adds to the conceit that he may be imagining the whole thing. I certainly know which side of the coin I ended up on.

The problem with this adaptation of Matheson's story is that the narrator, Scott Brick, reads the whole thing in a breathy, affected tone throughout the novel. It becomes so irritating that if it hadn't been for the fact that I was so interested in the plot, that I would have stopped listening, although it was a grind. Honestly, I kind of wanted to throttle him. His voice fades down the end of most words, and intonates inappropriately at every opportunity.

For an example of unaffected, trained and solid audiobook acting, try Jake Gyllenhaal's reading of The Great Gatsby. There you'll find an actor comfortable to let the text do the work. I'm afraid that Mr Brick seems to want to put too much of his own stamp on the text, which is a shame.

From researching him, I can see that Mr Brick is an experienced audiobook actor, however, after this experience with his work I will be thinking twice before purchasing any book he narrates.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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